North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

I spent the day on the water on Monday and ended up chasing schools of tuna. Hardly any birds working them but as soon as I got within 200m, they sounded.
I tried several methods ranging from racing in and throwing slices where they were last seen right up to trying to guess where they were heading, killing the motor and waiting, waiting, waiting.
The last method finally worked when a school popped up within range and in I went.
They were jumping out of the water the highest I’ve ever seen, normally they just break the surface and are much easier to target. I suppose when they are so far out of the water it means that they were coming from deeper down.
They are such a rush! i ended up with two tuna for my efforts

So what’s your method that works every time?

Were they Long Tail/Northern Bluefin by chance?

I was out the way of Blaze a couple weeks ago and had the exact same issue. No birds, big tuna busting up but in really small groups. Getting up to them hard and fast and casting immediately meant that the deckie would hook up once in every five attempts but by the time I got a cast in, they were gone.

Like you too, I tried to predict where they were headed and get in front of them but the same deal. As soon as they came close, they went deep.

However with mack tuna, they don't seem to care if you speed straight through them. I think that Long Tail are more flighty then other types of tuna. I'd be very interested in hearing how others manage to get them because they put up one hell of a fight.

full noise straight in and cast away

Tuna don't stay on the surface long even without boats around (mackies or long tail) - you can sit and watch this if you have time.
They push balls of bait to the surface, eat them and then move on with life. The only time you get longer than that is if there is more bait - more bait more time.

we had longtails busting up all around and underneath our boat on Sunday just gone - they weren't worried about the motor noise at all because they were too busy smashing the arse out of all the bait that was around us.

Yeah Jer, longtails.
Ive seen baitballs congregate right under the boat at times as well.

I am the deckie and the driver so i tried racing in and knock it out of gear, then running down the back with the rod in hand and chuck the lure out while still on the plane.
frantic was the word but good fun

Not that it works every time but I race to within 20-50m of them and just put into neutral. Fire your slug off but wait 3 seconds before retrieving. I've found that you must get it in or past the school to drag through them, and they must be feeding. Never caught one on travelling schools.

Last time I chased them in the harbour I found that you can also catch them on the bottom if you find the bait ball. They were very flighty and they dived. I stood on the casting deck ready to fire a cast when Julie said the bait ball is right below us. I instantly just dropped the jig. She said its 25m deep and the ball is 5m off the bottom. Once my jig hit the bottom I only got half a dozen turns before I hooked up. Ripper longtail. I also use 25-40g slugs. Any bigger and its too hard to retrieve them fast enough

I normally have no problem getting to within 50m away but the other day they were gone before i could get within 100m. I searched for bait balls but nothing to be seen.
you often see them pop up 100m away within a second (maybe a different school)

i always let it sink for a good 5 seconds before cranking it back as fast as i can.
i've even picked up the odd Spaniard lurking below the bait ball

i did throw a few speculators around and got a small hit but no hookup.

i find that i get more strikes on the gold slices than the chromies

I just couldnt get over the lack of birds on the bait.

just troll skirts around if your on your own mate - heaps easier and you should easily pick a couple up

Nomad should have plenty of those.........skirts!

cuddlescooper wrote:Nomad should have plenty of those.........skirts!

You are so hurtful. you know that i only wear them when i'm out on the town and never while fishing.

there was an old bloke in kings cross with stumps for arms who wore a skirt. whenever he needed to take a p155, he would just lift the skirt and let it rip.

I got 10 Tuna on Saturday and 4 on Sunday all in Shoal Bay.I would spot the school and stop about 100m away and drop the electric and cruise right up to them.A couple of times I was in the middle of a feeding frenzy and just drop the slice down a couple of metres and give it a jig.Sunday was a bit harder going as there wasn't as many schools and a lot more boats.i would be quietly sneaking up on a school with the electric when another boat would come flying up to it at warp speed which would send the school back down.

I have found that electric or trying to get in front of them and drift into them the best way to go.

Yeah my brain says to slowly sneak up on them but my body says go go go. between the two, i usually manage to get a few.

Nothing better than having the school head your way while you are motionless.

May seen a silly question for some, but has anyone ever burlyed up for tuna to attract them to you?Or will they only go after the bait balls.

Burley for me has only resulted in sharks

My new tactics for tuna is the deck wash.
If they are flighty but in good numbers I
Set the deckwash up with a large spray
Pattern and it brings them over. Most of the time

jeffish wrote:My new tactics for tuna is the deck wash.
If they are flighty but in good numbers I
Set the deckwash up with a large spray
Pattern and it brings them over. Most of the time

Works for macks too